


Half of One

by SegaBarrett



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music Industry, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 10:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20062219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: Persephone wanted to hit it big in the music business. Hades is a manager.





	Half of One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruis/gifts).

“I won’t allow it.”

Demeter’s face, usually curled into a pleasant smile, had turned downward into a frown. 

“End of discussion,” she said again, turning her body to walk away from her daughter.

“I’m nineteen. You can’t tell me what to do anymore,” Persephone fired back. She was a tall girl, with long black hair that curled and curved into one long braid. Everyone had told her that she was beautiful – everyone that mattered, that was. “And I’m going to do this. I’m going to be the greatest singer this crappy little town has ever seen!”

“Pride goeth before a fall.”

Persephone scowled, walking back and forth and trying to figure out how to get her mother to see that she was adult, now, and could make her own choices, had to make her own choices.

“It’s not that far away, Mom,” Persephone tried again, “All I need to do is get on the train and go there, there isn’t even a layover or anything.”

“It’s not called a layover, Persephone. That’s if you were getting on an airplane. Which you are definitely not permitted to do. I… will think about you taking the train to New York. But you have to listen to me.”

Persephone crossed her arms, and Demeter looked her over again, seeing the bits and pieces of herself that her daughter had inherited – there was the smooth, mahogany skin, the curl of her mouth – she really did look just as Demeter could remember herself looking at that age.

But Demeter had been foolhardy back then, not the sensible woman she was now. What could she do to stop Persephone from making the same mistakes? And her daughter did have a beautiful, golden voice, the kind that could bring tears to someone’s eyes. Could she really make it in the music business if she tried?

Would she be keeping her from being truly happy?

“You can go meet with them. But you have to call me as soon as you get there. And don’t go anywhere with anyone alone and just… keep your head about you, Persephone. You don’t know what these people are like. Hollywood is not populated by normal people.”

Persephone laughed.

“Well, of course not. It’s all the stars. Or the people who want to be stars, at least. I think we’re all a little crazy.”

“Just be careful. Will you promise me that?”

“I promise, Mama.”

***

When Persephone had been much younger, starting around ten or eleven, she had spent her days out in the backyard tending their little flower garden. She had been filled with glee to run to the supermarket and bring back handfuls of seeds, including plenty that made Demeter shake her head and tell her, “This will never grow out here.” 

They always did grow, for reasons Demeter never understood. Persephone would sing to each flower, and Demeter would stand on the back step, feeling a wonderous awe and a terror all at once.

***

The train to New York City was jam-packed. There were teenagers, businessmen, and a hodgepodge of other people hanging half over the seats, some chatting excitedly to each other and others talking on cell phones. One man periodically rose from his eat to walk down the aisles, beckoning, “I’m having trouble feeding myself, anything you can spare, anything you can spare,” letting the long “ee” in “feed” out like the siren of an ambulance, again and again every ten minutes.

Persephone peeked out the window as the city grew ever closer and larger. The man next to her tapped along at his laptop, ignoring her open-eyed wonder. She breathed against the window, pressed her hands against it too, watching as the buildings grew larger and the lights grew brighter.

What would she do there, first? She would go to the audition, of course – that was where everything would change. But after that, she couldn’t go home just yet.  
She would figure it out. Once it was beneath her feet, maybe that was what would make it real.”

***

“We’ll call you. Next?”

Persephone stepped out into the room. The room was larger than she’d thought, emptier too. The floor beneath her was hardwood, shiny and beige.

“I’ve seen a lot of people today. If I’m not impressed right off the bat, then you might as well walk on out of here.”

Ellsworth Hades sat in a chair that appeared too big for anyone, covered with curved lines sliced through the wood. Persephone couldn’t tell exactly what the design was supposed to be – a flower, maybe. 

He was obnoxious, but she could work with that.

“My name is Persephone…”

“Forget the last name. Single names are in now. I like yours. Now show me what it is that you do.” He leaned his chin on his elbow, locking eyes with her.   
She was shivering from head to toe, and she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to see it. That wouldn’t make her a star, being young and nervous and dumb – that wasn’t her. But she had never felt like this, not before. There was something about this man that she couldn’t put her finger on – something dangerous.

She surprised herself by opening her mouth and singing a song she had never heard before, as if some other force were beckoning her to sing for her life:  
_“Come away with me,  
You’ll be bulletproof  
You’ll be singing, I miss you, my darling –   
And the lights with come down for us, no use…”_

She couldn’t look at Hades, not directly at him, but she looked over him and past him, towards the huge analog clock on the wall, the black hands waving to her, beckoning. This could be it, they seemed to say.

It was quiet for a long time after she finished singing. She hadn’t noticed the men to his right and left until now, but each of them looked over at one another with a slight nod. Was that good? 

“We’ll take you,” Hades said suddenly. “You’ll fit in well here.”

Persephone’s both opened, wide, before she swung it shut. She needed to look wordly, not a little girl who came up here because her mother finally said she could. 

“We just need you to come sign this contract,” he said a second later. She walked over, one foot in front of the other, hearing the click-click-click of the heels as she approached. 

“Can I look it over?” she asked, peeking down at it. The text was small, and as she narrowed her eyes to try to read it, tiny plots of light appeared to block it out. 

“Don’t take too long,” Hades responded, “You’re a talent and a light, but another can come along just like that. Don’t lollygag or else you’ll be looking around in the dust, trying to figure out what happened. Looking dazed and…”

“Okay,” Persephone cut in, telling herself that she was cutting him off before he could launch into any more clichés. She felt prouder then, as if she was standing taller and stronger. “I’ll do it.” She leaned in, extending her hand as the pen was placed inside it. It felt heavy, metal-solid. Smooth around the edges.

She reached up to press the button, let her fingers slide down the side and look at the point as she began to write, leaning her head to the side. This was important.

“Here, here, and here,” Hades said, pointing to each with a disinterested look. “And initial here, sign here.”

“When can I start recording?” Persephone asked, trying to calm her nerves and show excitement rather than terror. They seemed to be two sides to the same coin, she mused, tying her stomach into a knot and pulling it taught, not letting her go. Maybe her song had taken all the wind out of her.

She heard the knock on the door faintly, like a siren, starting low and rising in intensity, a crescendo, as if it were someone singing. As if it were her singing, from the future, calling back.

She let her eyes slip shut for just a moment, quiet and soft. 

Then she heard the sound of the door bursting open. 

“Persephone! Stop! Don’t sign anything!”

Her head whipped around, and see saw Demeter standing there with her hands in the air, as if she was about to pull her out of the street like when she had been a child. She wrapped her arms around Persephone, pulling her close.

“You can’t. That’s not you. That’s not your world.”

The words weren’t quite making sense.

Not yet.

“She signed half a contract.”

They slowly began to.

They say you can’t be half in, half out. 

She would know soon enough.


End file.
